In The News

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says that several Arab countries will propose an end to the oil embargo and he’s quite optimistic they will succeed.

The Cost of Living Council removes price and wage controls from an additional 25% of the nation’s retail sales. Retail-level controls still exist on food, motor vehicles, gasoline and other petroleum products.

President Nixon leaves the White House by car for his annual physical checkup at Bethesda Naval Medical Center but doesn’t make it. Rush-hour traffic and a snowstorm forced him to return to the White House.

The Soviets seek U.S. help to build a commercial jet aircraft complex in Russia that would employ some 90,000 people.

Trucker shutdown - The Nixon Administration moves to crack down on independent truckers who refuse to return to work. It rejects the key demand of the drivers – to rollback fuel prices.

Later – most of the truckers return to the job.

Vice President Ford discloses that President Nixon told him that release of key Watergate tapes and summaries is being actively considered.

Three kidnapers abduct the 19-year-old daughter of Randolph A. Hearst from her Berkeley apartment. A UC Berkeley sophomore, her name is Patricia Campbell Hearst. Her fiancé and a neighbor were beaten.

After 84 days – Skylab 3 splashes down and it marks the longest time in space for a U.S. spacecraft (so far).

The Ladies Home Journal plans to serialize former Vice President Spiro t Agnew’s first novel, a yarn of intrigue and big power politics set against the background of Washington.

180 die in a Brazil high-rise fire. Many leapt to their deaths.

Long Gasoline Lines News Update– February 1, 1974

Long gasoline lines – One gas station owner said he put up an appointment book so his regulars wouldn’t feel left out. His lines are gone and he is booked for “gasoline” appointments days in advance. He has a big sign that says – “Gas By Appointment Only.”

Less gasoline – The latest AAA “fuel gauge report” says 16% of the 5,170 stations surveyed this week were out of fuel, compared with 5% last week. It seems everyone is talking rationing.

Sports news – February 1, 1974

McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc is now the owner of the San Diego Padres, which he purchased for $12 million.

USC All American flanker Lynn Swann (21) his two brothers and a cousin are released from jail in San Francisco after posting $3,500 bail each on charges of assaulting police during a traffic rhubarb. The four had been out celebrating Lynn’s selection in the first round of the NFL draft and his choice as the most valuable West Coast college football player when their car was stopped for running a red light. Heated words were exchanged and more cop cars showed up. Fighting broke out. Swann, the Pittsburgh Steelers #1 draft choice, was treated for minor injuries along with his brother and cousin.

Entertainment/Celebrity news – February 1, 1974

Passing – Samuel Goldwyn (91), last of the great and original movie moguls.

Sammy Davis Jr. says his endorsement of Richard Nixon during the 1972 presidential campaign has caused him pain and that he’s disappointed in the President’s social programs. “I’m not disappointed that I endorsed him, but I’m sorry there haven’t been more things done for the poor white, the blacks and the disenfranchised. I thought that if I could be there to give advice, I could be of some assistance to generate some goodness in terms of keeping him informed,” said the entertainer.

Actress Eileen Dietz files a petition with the Screen Actors Guild complaining that she was unfairly forced to sign a gag order preventing her from publicizing the fact she was Linda Blair’s double in “The Exorcist.”

The Soviet Press criticizes “The Exorcist” as pornographic and sadistic. Newspaper Izvestia emphasized that the film showed how something horrible could be turned into a fro of entertainment for the sake of money and called it, “The Warner Brothers’ Christmas present to a god-fearing country.

Playing in Las Vegas –

Diana Ross – Caesars Palace

Juliet Prowse – Desert Inn

Marty Allen/Della Reese – Flamingo

Teresa Brewer/Jan Murray – Frontier

Elvis Presley – Hilton

Liza Minnelli – Riviera

Totie Fields/Jerry Vale - Sahara

Wayne Newton – Sands

Billy Eckstine - Thunderbird

Television news – February 1, 1974

ABC cancels a Dick Cavett show featuring a discussion with four radical figures of the 1960’s: Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis. ABC says the broadcast contained “discussions of controversial issues of public importance which ABC feels should be balanced on the same program by opposing views.”

Red Foxx is off “Sanford and Son” because he’s suffering from a nervous condition that has caused him to break out in a rash. He’s written out of two shows so far.

Marries – Record producer Terry Melcher to Melissa Whittaker. She’s the former wife of Terry’s best friend.